The Third Wish
by Umodin
Summary: If there was one thing Harry James Potter hated it was the fact that he was Harry James Potter. The attention, the fame, the responsibility... All of it had earned his ire. He was of the belief he would have to live with his woes, that was until he came upon a curious artifact in Grimmauld Place. Now known as Altair Edward Tonks, he has but one goal: to enjoy his second chance.
1. Path of Sloth

_He watched from his cell, strapped against the wall with Ron and Luna next to him. Hermione was stripped bare on an altar, covered in unknown runes written in her own forcibly taken blood._

 _Bellatrix Lestrange stared down at her, a manic grin on her face and violet eyes alight in insanity._

" _The ickle widdle mudblood!" she cried out. "All for me!" The other Death Eaters in the room jeered and hollered, some with their hands in their pants as they leered at Hermione's virgin body. Bellatrix began to haphazardly cut into her skin, spelling out the word 'Mudblood' with a ritual knife._

 _Harry screamed at the top of his lungs at Bellatrix, calling her the vilest names he could think of, telling her to hurt him instead. She didn't verbally respond, but he knew by the twitch of her brow she'd heard his screams. She turned to him, her face alight in an unholy trance that spoke of pain._

" _So ickle widdle Potter wants to pway? Bella has a great game for you!"_

 _She walked up to where he was strapped down, turned her wand onto his face, pointing it directly at his right eye, and while smiling like a saint she spoke._

" _It's called scream."_

 _The wand began to glow a sickly red and she snarled out her spell._

" _Diffindo!"_

Harry Potter woke up screaming, his singular green eye wide while his magical blue one swirled around the room, trying to find anything unnatural. Without even thinking about it his hand, scarred with 'I will not tell lies' had ghosted its way to his wand.

He let out a sigh, putting his wand down and laid back down on his bed, staring at the ceiling in apathy. He wiped a sweat covered hand over his lightly stubbled face, knowing that he wasn't likely to return to sleep. He stared at the muggle clock on his nightstand, showing the time to be 9:13. Perhaps he shouldn't have stayed up so late working on Regulus's old bedroom?

With a groan, Harry got out of his bed, the mass of blankets surrounding his form billowing about in all manner of directions. Sunlight streamed through the window, and he belatedly noted that he should have pulled the curtains last night. He glanced outside briefly and just let loose a small sigh.

A yawn in his throat, he made his way to the washroom, wand in hand. He looked in the mirror as he stripped his clothing, touching his scarred skin. His eye was missing, his upper body was still scarred from the Dragon and the Basilisk while Bellatrix had been _kind_ enough to even out the scars on his chest with whips to his back.

He sighed once more, removing his magical eye and pointed his trusted holly wand at the tub. With an overpowered _"Aquamenti"_ and a weakened _"Incendio"_ he found himself in a scalding hot bath. He scrubbed at his scarred body, from the Chamber, from the Dragon, from Tom and from Bella. He knew what people would say about him behind his back, being compared to Mad-eye Moody was never considered a compliment if those that spoke weren't speaking of dueling skills.

Harry quickly finished cleaning, he never much cared for long baths; the Dursleys were quick to show him he'd be paying for their extra water bills in chores. He dried off halfheartedly and put on a pair of simple sweatpants and a long-sleeve and bounded downstairs, not even bothering to dry his wet hair. Pigwidgeon was perched on the ledge of his kitchen window, a small pile of letters strapped to the birds leg along with the days Daily Prophet; Harry still wasn't certain why he even let the damned owl past his wards. Pig had appeared a few days after he moved into Grimmauld, and no matter how many times he tried to make the bird return to the Weasley's it would always return to him.

The Weasley's had become a somewhat sore subject for him. He still kept in contact with them, else Pigwidgeon wouldn't even be able to enter his home- but damage had been done. Bill was doing well, and he'd heard rumor that Fleur was pregnant with a girl. Charlie went back to his dragons. Percy returned to the Ministry and submerged himself into restructuring the place at Kingsley's side. George ended up taking over his and Fred's joke shop after wallowing in grief for a long while. Ron…

Well, Ron pulled a Ron. He allowed pettiness to take over once more, this time he somehow got Hermione in on in. Ron had begun to feel inadequate once more, what with Harry having just killed the Dark Lord while he left halfway through the search and returned to barely do anything useful, as he would say. Harry had tried to convince Ron that he'd been useful, that they wouldn't be where they were without him and that he destroyed Slytherin's locket, but Ron was nothing if not stubborn. Then, with his new relationship with Hermione, he felt that Harry's presence just didn't help. He'd been cordial to Harry, blunt and somber but Harry understood one thing- Ron was fickle.

Harry would always cherish Ron, he was his first and best friend, but he just couldn't continually live with letting Ron back into his life only for the guy to walk out when things turned tricky.

Hermione, however, was another matter entirely. She'd been undergoing what Harry had dubbed the "Honeymoon phase." She'd never been in a relationship before and regardless of who her partner was she was deliriously happy to be wanted in such a way. When Ron claimed that he wanted to get away from Harry for a while, she didn't even question it. She followed him.

He would admit to feeling down more about Hermione than he was about Ron. Hermione had stuck by him through thick and thin, he'd been tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange for her sake, though he would do so again for any of his friends in truth. He would admit that he considered her in a romantic light at one point, but she made it abundantly clear that _he was like her brother, that she could never be with her family_ and instead chose Ron. He accepted her decision, but he couldn't be near her until his heartache passed in full.

Harry sighed once more, his thoughts turned to the true reason for his rift with the Weasley clan; Ginny.

Ever since the Horcrux inside his head had been destroyed, he'd been able to think clearly and more so, gained a unique ability.

Harry, as it turned out, was a natural Legilimense and the Horcrux was stunting that ability along with any hopes of crafting proper Occlumency shields. When it was destroyed the paper thin shields he had formed with Professor Snape had turned into thick walls that had been nigh impenetrable.

He had no idea how to control his Legilimency at first and, without meaning to, would skim the surface thoughts of people he was in mid conversation with. Harry had even attempted to get back into a relationship with Ginny in hopes of forgetting Hermione, but after an accidental Legilimency probe went into her he found her to be lacking. While he was hunting Horcruxes and being tortured she was on her back with her legs spread, allowing people to use her body without preamble.

Upon looking further, he found himself appalled to discover that ever since the end of first year, after the Chamber incident, she'd been subject had mental trauma that was never dealt with. She couldn't understand love, just as Tom who had possessed her couldn't, but unlike Tom, she'd been able to at one point. She substituted that with lust, and allowed her body to be taken when she was just a third year by a _seventh year_.

When Harry brought this up to her family, Molly Weasley screamed at him, claiming to her family that Harry was spreading lies about their youngest, calling Ginny a whore and such. The reactions went as followed- Arther punched him in the stomach, Bill did nothing because he was perfectly aware what was happening, Charlie wasn't there, Percy followed Bill's example, George was drunk thinking about Fred and didn't bother, and Ron gave him a black eye.

Still, that was months ago, and while he was now cordial with the family, the bad blood had been spilled. Harry headed over to Pig and picked up the bundle of letters and the paper the bird had brought him. He poured some water for the owl before taking a seat at the dinner table. The once hyper bird had calmed down quite a bit and gave a soft hoot before settling down in front of his water dish.

The letters were of the usual sort. Ginny bothering him about marriage, as if he'd consider such a thing with her. Hermione trying to talk to him, he still needed his time away from her and ignored it. Ron trying to figure out _why_ he wasn't talking, Harry didn't much care to read his idiocy. Andromeda telling him of Teddy's growth, he always loved hearing of his godson and found great enjoyment in playing with the kid. He was too young to raise a child, Andromeda was the one to say that, but he made sure to be a part of the kid's life. There was even a letter from Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt himself, asking Harry to join the Auror corps. The man just couldn't seem to leave Harry alone. Aye, he killed a Dark Lord, but that didn't mean he enjoyed what he had to do.

He didn't want to be an Auror anymore, not after he saw the worst of the people he would be fighting for. Britain had forsook him when he was fighting for their freedom, and when he ended Tom they clamored to him like nails to a magnet.

He looked at the headlines of the Daily Prophet and let loose a vocal snarl. The media were talking about him, _again._ He'd always hated reporters ever since his first meeting with Rita Skeeter, but this was just ridiculous.

Ever since he'd killed Voldemort, the front page of the various British and even a few European papers wouldn't stop writing about him. It had started simple, he was praised and recognized for defeating the Dark Lord by the whole of Europe, but Britain had turned what should have been simple praise into what might as well have been worship of a deity. People were demanding he take up the positions Dumbledore once had and _lead Britain into a new age of prosperity!_

He hated it all.

In order to escape such blatant hypocrisy, since he was well aware that Britain had labeled him as their most wanted criminal the day before Voldemort's death, he moved back into 12 Grimmauld Place. Grimmauld Place had always been a dreary place, but without Kreacher it had been grossly infested with all kinds of unnatural grime. It almost made Harry sad he had killed Kreacher. That damned elf had been the one to bring him to Malfoy Manor after all, and while he would admit to being rash in the way Kreacher died, the elf had earned his ire. Harry needed to vent, and after killing Kreacher he let loose his stomach. Torture was something he didn't have the stomach for. Still, Grimmauld held some of the best wards in all of Britain and it'd keep him safe from both reporters and anyone meaning him harm.

Harry didn't know why he even allowed such thoughts to enter his mind. He quickly pulled out his wand and burned the paper with an _Incendio,_ a spell he'd become quite proficient with during his time in Grimmauld.

He prepared himself quick a batch of bacon and headed into what he called the Dark Room of the house. Harry had plans to make Grimmauld into a proper home that didn't creep him out, and so he'd recently decided to clean out the worst of the place. He cast an overpowered _Incendio_ on Walburga's portrait a month ago, burning down half the living room in the process. He took down the severed heads of the many house-elves of the family and then painted the place from what was a dark green into a light gold.

The Dark Room, however, was the room that the Order of the Phoenix dumped every single object that they couldn't identify, claiming them all as Dark. It wasn't _completely_ wrong, the majority of those objects were in fact cursed in some way, shape, or form – but, many of the objects in that room were perfectly safe and even had a wide variety of uses.

He'd been working on clearing out the room for nearly a month, constantly checking with as many charms and spells that he knew in order to figure out what the objects were.

Recently, however, he'd come upon an item he didn't know existed. Underneath the floorboards of the Dark Room –which broke after a necklace with a gravity curse activated on accident and fell through the boards– was an urn of some form. The urn was almost completely plain, no known curses or enchantments were present on or in it, and the only markings were a full circle with a pair of squares intersecting similar to the Star of David he'd seen those of Jewish faith wear.

Harry had been trying to figure out why the Blacks, a notoriously Dark family, would have such an item in their possession. The only interesting thing about the urn was that magic didn't seem to affect it, and even still, the Blacks likely wouldn't have owned such an item.

Harry dragged the urn, which weighed roughly 150 lbs. into the common room and began to dust the item off. He absently noticed that there was a spec of something on the circular symbol, and when he brushed his finger against the edge of the symbol, he felt his magic drain. The urn began to glow, and what was once a dull tan turned into a brilliant gold and azure light escaped from the lid. A blue fog began to seep out of the urn and Harry hastily backed away.

The blue fog soon encompassed the whole of the house and just when Harry thought he'd accidentally found his death warrant, the fog compressed. Fog turned into mist, and mist turned into water, and water turned into something that Harry would remember for the rest of his life.

No legs were visible, making whatever this was to look like its lower body was made of pure smoke or a mist of sorts, but this thing was most definitely humanoid. A female body, similar in size to that of a giant, appeared from the fog with skin the color of sapphire. Long arms, wrapped intricately in various pieces of golden jewelry extended, with open palms showed Harry a set of unnaturally long fingernails; roughly a foot long each. The woman, for there was no other way to describe her, looked to be wearing a white shawl that allowed her breasts to be exposed, and instead of nipples, on her bare breasts was the same star symbol on the urn. Her face was comparable to that of a veela in the way it was ethereally beautiful, with bright violet eyes, high cheekbones, a lip ring and long pointed ears barely visible from her indigo locks. The only curiosity upon her ethereal face was the vertical line going down the middle of her brow.

Harry gulped loudly, and her attention quickly found him as he hastily pulled out his wand.

She spoke, a voice that rasped and held what seemed like millennia of knowledge, _"I am Paimon, Djinn of Change and Sin. Who comes before me to ask for my Third Wish?"_

Harry shakily stood up, trying to get a good look at this woma- _Paimon_ that randomly appeared while keeping his wand pointed at her and stuttered out the question at the tip of his tongue, "Djinn?"

She stared at him and he felt his Occlumency shields penetrated without the slightest bit of strain on her part, _"What you have come to know as Genie's, Harry James Potter."_

He snapped, "Don't read my mind!"

" _It is how I determine what is to be The Third Wish. Djinn do not grant frivolous desires to those that find them, only their hearts truest desire."_

He stilled, slowly but surely lowering his wand. Harry knew that if Luna wasn't with that Scamander chap at the moment she'd be acting like one of his fangirls at the sight of this being, "Wha- What do you mean by Third Wish?"

She stilled, her head cocking ever so slowly to the side as she closed her eyes and let loose a bone chilling hum, _"Djinn grant Three Wishes to those that find them and those that share their blood. In exchange, we may finally die. An example you would be intimately familiar with are the Deathly Hallows and the Three Unforgiveable Curses."_

Harry couldn't help but goggle at that. His eyes darted past her and at the safe near the kitchen where his Cloak of Invisibility lay.

" _The First of the Blacks, the patriarch, found my urn millennia ago, and after reading his thoughts I knew what kind of person he was. He was a man wrapped in the claws of Envy, always desiring to become somebody else for the smallest of reasons._

" _And so, the First Wish was granted, and the Blacks were given the blood trait of envy, now known as Metamorphmagus._

" _The Second Wish came some four centuries or so after the First. The one that found me, hidden by the First Wisher, held a truly heart of darkness, wreathed in Greed. He desired power, the ability to control the very being of his kin, and yet was not sure of himself. To match his dark heart, and I granted the family now known as Black the magic to match his heart. And yet, use of such magic comes at a price, for when those that are Black of blood call upon Darkness will find their minds cluttered in madness; in insanity. Such is the price of Greed."_

Harry shuddered silently, still in awe of the Djinn in front of him, and was eerily reminded of Bellatrix Lestrange.

" _And now you, Harry James Potter, Grandchild of Dorea Iola Black, come before me. What shall be the Third Wish?_

 _"What will free me from my shackles in this realm of Pride?"_

Before he could answer he felt his Occlumency shields not only penetrated but ripped open completely. He felt like his mind was on fire, and he let out a loud scream in agony.

" _You desire normality. And yet, you know that you can never be normal. You are Harry James Potter, the one who slew Tom Marvolo Riddle, a being born to a woman of Lust and nurtured into the embodiment of Wrath, and because of this you are destined never to be permitted normalcy. Should you run, you would be chased by those that claim to love you, and should you retaliate you would be slandered by those very same people for the rest of time._

 _"You, Harry James Potter, were marked by Focalor, Djinn of Fate and Spirits, before your conception and yet, you wish to break free from that which you perceive as chains."_

Harry's screams were torturous, the feeling in his mind was akin to that of the Cruciatus on his body as her Legilimency bombardment emboldened.

" _You desire to no longer be Harry James Potter, to escape all that you are and have ever been. Such is the path of Sloth. You desire to no longer be Harry James Potter, and yet, you hope to reunite with your love ones from beyond the grave. The Resurrection Stone gave you closure, but you will always want to be near them. With the removal of the Horcrux upon your brow, the sliver of Wrath from Tom Marvolo Riddle, your Envy of what you consider normal peoples has defined your very being."_

Harry was still clutching his head as the battering ram that was Paimons Legilimency receded. He wasn't looking at her, his eyes were shut, but as he listened to her speak he couldn't help but agree silently. Loathe as he was to admit.

" _I, Paimon, am bound to the blood of Black. Yet, your wish would turn you from what held that blood through Dorea Iola Black into that which is not. This cannot be done, for if performed I would not be permitted the release of death, and yet you would be. You desire normalcy, and yet you cannot live without magic, for it is the first love you have ever truly felt._

" _The Third Wish shall be granted. You shall no longer be Harry James Potter."_

The strange line on her brow opened to show an eye with the same symbol on the urn and her breasts. She let out a loud scream and Harry found himself trapped in the same azure fog that originated from the urn. He couldn't move, he could barely breathe, and as his magical eye stared at Paimon he gave extra attention to the newly opened eye on her brow that glowed the same color of a curse he was _intimately_ familiar with.

She smiled, a soft smile that shown elation at Harry, _"The Third Wish shall be granted. You, Harry James Potter, will be no more. And yet, you must be of the blood of Black for such a wish to be granted._

" _You will soon no longer be Black of blood, and yet, you shall now forevermore be Black of blood."_

She inhaled a large breath and screamed the six syllable phrase that has haunted Harry for the entirety of his life.

" _AVADA KEDAVRA!"_

* * *

Cold air hit his body and Harry let out a shiver. He didn't know what Paimon did for certain, but he knew that the feeling of not being able to move his body as he'd like was not something he enjoyed. His vision was blurry, far worse that it was without his magical eye, but for some reason he could feel his right eye once more.

He felt _wrong_.

"-not a screamer, unusual-"

"-there's nothing wrong with him, is there?"

"Oh, not at all, he's a very healthy baby. Perhaps the healthiest I've ever seen."

Baby?! Harry felt himself jostled about, the blurry images that made up the world around him swaying as he moved. Something warm and soft was his landing pad and he soon figured out that it was an arm curling around his body.

"Look at him dear, he's already curious." Wait a second, Harry knew that voice.

Slowly blinking his eyes, and wow would it take time to get used to having two eyes once more, Harry looked up from where he was resting just off the crook of a neck.

Andromeda Tonks stared back with a tired smile. He didn't know her well, she was a secretive woman by nature, but he knew her better than most. He'd spent many days with her getting used to his role as Teddy Lupins godfather.

"He's got my black hair it seems." That was a distinctively male voice, and judging by the context of his words it came from the mouth of Ted Tonks. Harry watched as the blurry form of Andromeda stuck her tongue out at Ted in silent amusement.

His amusement vanished in an near instant. Paimon did exactly what she said she would, he would no longer be Black of blood but would forever more be of such blood. He no longer had a direct blood relation to Dorea Potter, and now his blood was closer to that of the House of Black through Andromeda. With his magic being so young and untamed due to his status as an infant, Harry did the only thing he could.

He screamed.

Magic. The magic that had held with him all through his life surged out from beneath his skin. He had closed his eye, his _eyes_ , and he screamed as loudly as he could, his anguish for everything he'd lost came to the forefront of his mind. His Hermione, his Ron, his Teddy, the Weasley's, all his friends would forever be lost to him. The life he'd built, no matter how aggravating it was at the time, was something he cherished and now he'd lost it all.

Andromeda let out a shriek of surprise as Harry's small tuft of black hair turned Weasley red before laughing loudly.

"Another one! Ted, we've got another one!" she said, her voice was filled with bubbling pride.

"How? I thought they were as rare as they come."

She shrugged, Harry was still crying and screaming his throat hoarse as she tried to comfort him. "I know the Blacks have had a few, I guess our blood needed to be "mudded" as my father put it for them to come back."

Ted jokingly retorted, "Well, I'm glad to assist in trying." and planted a kiss on Andromeda's brow.

"The name Mrs. Tonks?" came a gruff male voice, likely a doctor.

"Altair Edward Tonks. Altair for Ted's house of Ravenclaw, it being the eagle star and all, and Edward after his father. I figured since I took over the naming for our daughter he'd have the son."

Harry just continued to cry.

* * *

A/N: Sup folks? Umodin here, back to give a new go at a Harry Potter fic. I have other stories up using the series, but I felt that I was remiss with my interest in them. Out of all my HP fics, The Guardian is my favorite, and while I intend to keep updating it I wanted to focus on a noncrossover as well. I uploaded this about a week ago, but took it down for personal reasons.

So, here's what's going on. Harry was reborn as Altair Tonks, Nymphadora Tonks' younger brother by four and a half years. His birthday is October 31st 1977, I figure the date is poetic in a way since Harry believes everything bad happens on Halloween. He, similar to Nymphadora, is a Metamorphmagus, which means he is a natural shapeshifter. I decided to do this because he is no longer Harry Potter, thus no longer a Parselmouth, but I like the idea of Harry having some kind of rare magical ability, so Altair is a Metamorph instead. This isn't an AU, or at least not at the start. There will be a Harry Potter born on July 31st 1980, just that Altair will be an added character. He's essentially going to get a bird's eye view of how he was as a kid. Originally, Harry was reborn as the son of Regulus Black, but I couldn't really get into that story and chose to rewrite it into what you see here.

It was a little tricky at first figuring out dates, we were never given Tonkses birthday and only knew she was born in 1973. They'll be 5 years apart in school, so when Altair enters Hogwarts as a firsty she'll be a sixth year.

I don't really have much of a plan for this story, it just came to me and I decided to roll with it. But, I do intend to keep it going. My hope is that I can complete a few stories, but I tend to be busy more often than not and don't have the chance to update unless I have some extra free time at college. Still, i've tried my hand at some HP before and I wanted to give it another shot. Oh! And if any of you were curious about Paimon, if you type in her name on Google Images you can find an animated version of what I wrote.

If you liked this please Favorite/Follow and don't forget to Review!


	2. Squashing Pride

In the short couple of months after the birth of her son, Andromeda Tonks truly understood what other mothers complained about. Nymphadora had been a fussy baby, but she was simple enough once Andromeda learned what her various colors meant; Metamorphs wore their emotions on their sleeves after all.

Altair, however, wasn't just fussy, he was _loud_.

He would constantly scream, cry over nothing and his small tuft of hair would cycle randomly between an unruly black, a ginger red and a bushy brown. She knew that black was his natural color but she had absolutely no clue where the red and brown came from. Perhaps it was instinctual, like Dora's ridiculous love for the color pink.

Still, it was one thing for her child to be loud, it was another thing entirely for him to _never stop screaming_. He only ever calmed when Dora was in the room, and even then it was only for a short while. Andromeda would have loved for her daughter to calm Altair all day, but her Dora was only five and didn't know how to handle a babe.

It was twice as bad when she tried to breastfeed him. It felt wrong to her to use formula.

She honestly thought that he had some kind of illness, he was born a full month early after all, but the healers had told her that he was still perfectly healthy. They were as stumped as she was, but one of the healers, a man named Gregor, had told her that some babies developed differently and that she would just have to be patient.

That was nearly a month ago.

She was _tired_ of dealing with a baby that constantly screamed. So much so that when she put him down for nap time, something that Altair didn't much care for, she would place a small drop of a sleeping draught in his mouth. That was the _only_ way she and Ted could get some sleep.

She wanted to go out, but with the war going on she knew it was safer at home. Her Ted had come up with a genius idea to escape the attacks. They had two homes, their personal condo and a small flat and registered the flat as their living space. The condo was bought by them both, but the flat was a gift from Andromeda's mother, Druella, as a goodbye of sorts from the family. He put the Fidelius Charm on the condo, and made it so only they knew the locale for the plot. They would apparate to the small flat and from there go to the condo through a floo connection. It may have cost more since they had two homes with the floo, but it threw off any pursuers.

With her Ted being a Muggleborn, it was only natural that they want to avoid the war, and if being overly cautious kept their lives then it was worth it.

But, even though she agreed and even applauded her husband's Ravenclaw smarts, she wanted to go out. She was tired of hearing Altair scream and cry, tired of having to renew the silencing spell on Nymphadora's room so her daughter wouldn't be constantly awoken by the noise, tired of being stuck in one place for so long… She didn't need much; a simple night out in London away from the children with her husband was all she asked for.

She may not have been a Black by name any more, but her blood was as Black as they came, and all those that carried the Black blood were a stubborn lot. They got what they wanted.

She went into the kitchen, ignoring Altair's hoarse screaming since she knew he was just being loud for the sake of being loud, and grabbed a small mirror from her purse. She pulled out her wand and tapped it three times. She waited a moment for a response, knowing that three taps on the mirrors were meant for emergency's and would set off a set off a series of alarms.

Her patience paid off. From the mirror came a young and handsome face with black hair and the same grey eyes that she herself possessed looking wide and frantic.

"Meda! What's wrong? Is it the Dark Lord?!" Sirius fired off. The two-way mirror was one of the Marauders finer products, she thought. The group gave an extra mirror to their family members, but since Siri had estranged himself from the Black House, just as she herself did, she was given his family mirror in their stead.

She shook her head, the bags under her eyes more pronounce than she expected, "No Siri, I just need a favor."

"Anything for my favorite cousin." he preened at her. She knew that he was trying to be cheeky but she didn't have the inclination to play his game, not at the moment.

"Anything?" she reiterated with a glint in her eye.

"Of course!"

"Thank you for babysitting tonight." She couldn't help but smirk at his wide eyed expression. She knew her cousin hadn't seen an infant since he himself was a toddler, Regulus being the youngest of the Black cousins.

"Meda!" he whined.

"Sirius, I have been stuck in my house for near two months. Ted's been going into the muggle world, worked long hours, and gotten all of our supplies while I've been doing nothing but hearing my son cry. I _need_ a break. Just a few hours is all I ask."

His eyebrows scrunched up and his eyes narrowed in concentration. Minutes passed while they had an impromptu staring contest before he sighed in defeat.

"Let me ask Aunt Dorea." he grumbled.

She had belatedly realized that he was spending his Yule with the Potters. They were a fair bunch, James was a tad too arrogant for her taste in company but he was a good boy. "Of course, thank you Siri."

She waited patiently. Altair was still screaming in the background, and while it made her feel low for ignoring him so pointedly she needed this. Five minutes later the slightly wrinkled face of her Aunt Dorea appeared on the mirror, a small smile on her painted lips.

"Hello Andy, you look tired."

"Altair is far needier than Dora was I'm afraid." Her aunt chuckled lightly, hiding her mouth with the tips of her fingers.

"Yes, my Jamie was like that as well, although he cried more when he was five than he did before he was five months." Andromeda couldn't help but snicker when she heard James yell from the background "Muuuum!"

"Anyways dear, you want Sirius to babysit?"

Andromeda nodded sharply, "I need a night out with Ted. I would normally ask Ted's family, but they moved to Dublin a few months before Altair was born."

Dorea smiled wistfully, "Altair, a good strong name. I don't believe any Blacks or Black descendants have had that one. I tried to convince Charlus to let us give James a Black name, but I married quite the stubborn man." She didn't sound the slightest bit sad about that, Andromeda noted.

Andromeda smiled a strained smile, "Altair Edward Tonks. Altair for Teds Hogwarts house, Ravenclaw, and Edward after Ted himself. That was our deal, I named the girl and he got the boy. I was more surprised than anything when he wanted to keep to the Black naming tradition."

Dorea smirked darkly, "And I presume you rewarded him as intimately as possible?"

Andromeda grinned salaciously, "Of course."

Dorea nodded, "He's a good man, but enough talk of your husband. You can leave your children with us, I'm sure we'll have a jolly time."

Andromeda let out a relieved sigh, "Thank you, you have no idea how much this means to me."

Dorea smiled kindly, "Maybe not as much as you, but James has never been what we would call a calm boy. What time should we expect Dora and Altair?"

Andromeda paused for a moment, looking at the clock in the kitchen. "Its 2:15 right now and Ted gets off work at 6:00. How does 6:30 sound?"

"It will be fine, I'll have Dotty prepare for a sixth."

"Six? I thought it was just you, Charlus, James and Siri."

"Ah, Jamie wanted us to meet his "Lily-flower" as he calls her." Dorea's voice was filled with mirth and her eyes twinkled lightly at the mention of her sons chosen.

Andromeda chuckled. "Anyways, thank you Auntie. I'm going to go prepare for tonight."

"I look forward to meeting your children."

The connection was cut soon after.

* * *

Sirius Black was well aware that he wasn't what people would call responsible, and it was only natural to not trust him near children. So it was quite a shock when his favorite cousin, his Meda, guilted him into babysitting her kids. He'd met her daughter, ickle Nymphadora when she was a baby a few years back. She was a fairly quiet girl, taking after her mother in looks, but he'd yet to meet her son.

So when Meda came out of the Potter Manor Floo with ickle Nymphadora at her side and a baby screaming its throat raw in her arms he knew this would be a long night.

Or at least that's what he thought he would be in for.

The moment he was forced to hold the baby it abruptly stopped screaming. He looked into the tykes eyes, grey meeting grey, and was puzzled when it began to giggle. The creature's hair then began to cycle through various colors, and it stopped on a garish green. It was like this… this _thing_ was goading him by taking his least favorite color!

He looked up to see Meda staring at him wide eyed.

"What?"

"Siri, I've never seen Altair calm down like that." Huh, so that was the brat's name.

He struck a pose, copying that movie with all the cartoon lions Lily forced him to watch when the monkey held up the cub at the mountain and all the other animals bowed down. "I'm just awesome." he said snootily while Altair giggle in his hands.

Ickle Dora laughed while Meda took in the scene with a glint in her eye and a secretive smile.

All Blacks had that smile when they were up to something, and Sirius was not looking forward to what she had in store for him.

"Well, thanks again. I'll pick them up before midnight."

Sirius waved her off, tucking Altair into his armpit like one would hold an American football, "No problem."

He watched as Meda kissed ickle Dora on the head and tickled Altair's nose before heading back through the Floo. With a shrug he led Dora into the kitchen while Altair wriggled around in his arm.

"Prongs!" he called, "I have brought our ickle cousins!" Dora blew him a raspberry for calling her ickle. Ah, he was going to enjoy corrupting her.

"Cousins!" came James's voice. He bounded into the room, his hair sticking up randomly, his glasses on crooked and his lips slightly puffy. He smiled brightly upon seeing a little girl with curious pink hair by Padfoot's side and a baby in his arm.

"Padfoot!" he barked, "Introduce me."

"Of course your eminence." Sirius bowed for deeper effect, causing Dora to laugh while her hair cycled through various colors. James looked at hers and her brother's hair with jaw agape. "This one is ickle Nymphadora Tonks and the tyke in my arm is ickle Altair Tonks."

James was about to speak but a feminine voice cut him off, "James, where'd you go?" he grinned brightly and ran out of the room.

Sirius blinked, not sure what to do with the kiddies. James returned quickly, Lily Evans in tow. Sirius would admit she was a very pretty girl, and that Prongs had some good taste. Her hair was a bright red, eyes were a bright green, and her… her lips were as puffy as James's. Sirius could help but bark out a laugh, Meda messed with his best mates snogging session!

She look at Sirius and squealed lightly, "Baby!" She rushed over and snatched ickle Altair out of Siruis's arms, causing the baby to let out a squawk before giggling at Lily, his hair turning the same shade of red hers was and his eyes turning her green. She gasped lightly before pulling the baby to her chest and cooing at it while walking out of the kitchen.

James and Sirius stared at the door that Lily walked out of, not certain what to do. They shrugged in unison and turned their attention to ickle Dora, who was also staring at where Lily walked off to in wide eyed wonder. James wrapped his arm around her left while Sirius took her right, causing her attention to shift to them in a near instant, a confused frown on her face.

"Tell us ickle Dora…" Sirius started.

"Have you ever heard…" James continued.

"Of pranks?" they finished together.

She shook her head, her cheeks puffed out at them calling her ickle, and they grinned at each other.

Time to corrupt Meda's ickle little Dora.

* * *

Andromeda sighed in content as she made her way towards her floo, her body was happily sore from hers and her Ted's alone time. Ted was quick to agree with her about them needing a night out. They went to a nice Italian restaurant for dinner and watched a flick at the local cinema after. Then they went home, and while the children were gone they rutted like dogs in heat; they hadn't properly shagged in some 2 months after all.

True, their date was quite a simple affair, but Andromeda and Ted Tonks were a simplistic people. They first spoke outside of class when sneaking into the kitchen late at night in their fourth year, both hoping for a snack that wasn't what the House Elves generally served in the Great Hall. The elves happily whipped them up some pasta, and from there they conversed about little things. She was still slightly prejudiced against Muggleborns at the time, but Ted was quick and calm about showing her the wonders of their world.

They started dating in relative secret a year later, and when Ted turned 17 he floo'd her to the Leaky Cauldron for a date in muggle London. It was at that moment that Andromeda Tonks came to love the muggle world, and with it the person that introduced her to it. They eloped the day of their graduation, her father Cygnus had tried to force her into a marriage contract with the Rosiers; her mother's family. She loved her Ted, but their marriage started out as a plea of desperation on her part. Still, she'd not regretted their life together in the slightest, the only thing the House of Black had was money and she learned that money didn't equate to happiness.

Her Dora had been a blessing. She knew that she had difficulty having children, she'd had a miscarriage prior to Dora, but she always wanted a daughter to spoil rotten. Ted was quite lax on letting her name their Dora, and she promised that should they have another child it'd be all his. It was originally an empty promise, they both didn't think she'd have another child, and after three more miscarriages were contemplating just tying her tubes. But, lady luck smiled down upon them, and they were blessed with a son.

Altair was a loud, stubborn, and unruly baby, but she loved him all the same. She was tired more than she'd like, yes, but he was their little miracle and no small amount of sleep would stop her from showering her son in affection.

She floo'd to Potter Manor and called for Dotty. The little House-Elf looked wide eyed at her but quickly ushered her into the kitchen. Dorea Potter was nursing a cup of tea while Altair was quietly sleeping in a small pen, his hair a bright red. It was an adorable sight, and far better than the fitful movements he would have when sleeping at home.

Dorea turned to her and smiled, "Welcome back Meda, how was your night?"

"Wonderful. Thank you for looking after the kids, did you have any trouble?"

Dorea shook her head, "Not really. James and Sirius were entertaining themselves by playing with your daughter while Lily kept up with Alto well."

Andromeda blinked, "Alto?"

Dorea snickered lightly, "Ah, it's a good nickname. Lily was busying herself with Altair and decided to try singing to him. He tried to copy her, but since he couldn't form words he just hummed with her. Sirius saw it and charmed him so that all the sounds he made sounded like a muggle saxophone. We just started calling him Alto after that."

Andromeda smiled lightly, glad her son was calm. She was sure Ted would appreciate his Altair's nickname more than she did, "And Dora?"

"My Jamie was quite vocal about "corrupting" your daughter. He was showing her some of his lighter pranks and Sirius let himself be used as a test dummy. I'm afraid that she's likely to keep it up back home."

Andromeda just groaned.

Dorea let out a hearty laugh, "I don't think you'll need to worry much, dearie. Just keep her in line a tad."

Andromeda shook her head, "Anyways, where's Dora? It's time to take them back home."

"She's on one of our living room couches. If you'd like to collect her, follow me." Andromeda picked up Altair's pen, careful not to wake him from his sleep, and follow her aunt into the living room. Her little Dora was cuddling a small toy broom in her sleep induced state. Andromeda wished she had brought a camera of some sort.

She quietly padded to her daughter and shook her shoulder, "Dora dear, it's time to go home." she said softly. Her daughter ignored her and she let out a soft sigh.

She turned her attention back to her aunt, "I hope you don't mind me taking two trips? I'll leave Altair here for a moment and bring Dora back, then come back for him?"

Dorea shook her head, "Not at all, it's perfectly sensible." she took Altair's pen and Andromeda picked carefully picked up her daughter.

Dorea watched her niece go through the floo quietly. She returned some five minutes later and took little Altair.

"Thank you again auntie."

Dorea smiled, "If you need a sitter, I don't mind helping. Jamie's at Hogwarts most of the time and it can get awfully stale with just me and Charlus around."

Andromeda smiled brightly, "That'd be wonderful auntie." She trapped the elder woman in a small hug and walked through the floo once more.

* * *

Harry, lain in his crib, stared up at the ceiling of Ted and Andromeda Tonkses room blankly.

He didn't know what to think.

Originally, when Paimon forced him out of his life, he would rage as best he could. Crying, screaming, flailing... everything and anything that would help him vent. He grieved for the life he lost at all times, his hair would go Weasley red when thinking of the family, black when thinking of Teddy, and brown when thinking of Hermione. Just because he'd been having issues with the Weasley's and Hermione didn't mean he wanted them out of his life, and he missed them dearly.

For a nearly two months he raged at the world. He knew it was petty, the Tonkses were nothing but kind to him and he might as well have spat in their face.

Then Andromeda brought him to Sirius.

He hadn't seen Sirius since he used the Resurrection Stone the night of Voldemort's death. When his godfather had told him that it wasn't his fault, that he was happy to be with his parents and the Lupins. Sirius may have been happy, but Harry sure as hell wasn't.

This Sirius wasn't the one he knew though. His voice wasn't nearly as scratchy, his face wasn't as gaunt and his eyes weren't as haunted. He calmed down for this Sirius, for the sake of his personal curiosity at the very least.

And then he saw Lily and James Potter.

Well, James Potter and Lily Evans, but he was allowed his mistakes.

He spent the majority of his time at Potter Manor with Lily Evans. He marveled at her, having no true memory of actually _touching_ her. She cooed at him, cuddled him, sang to him… She was perfect.

And- and...

And she wasn't his.

It happened in a near instant. He realized that this wasn't his mother, that this James Potter wasn't his father, that this Sirius Black wasn't his godfather, that this Dorea Potter wasn't his grandmother. These were the same people yes, but not yet what they would be, not what he knew.

But… But he did have a mother now. Andromeda Tonks was a kind and caring woman that tolerated his tantrums far better than the Potters or, merlin forbid, the Dursleys would have. He had a father. Ted Tonks was an open man from what he could tell, and while he didn't know what the man truly looked like thanks to his blurry vision he could identify his form easier than he could James Potter. He had a sister. He'd always thought Tonks to be an ideal sister back when she was alive, somebody that would joke with him and would listen to him rant and…

And he now had what he'd always wanted, he belatedly realized.

Paimon truly did grant his wish, she claimed that his envy of normal people, normal _families_ , had changed him. That what he wanted in his heart more than anything was the normality that he was never granted.

Harry James Potter was a troubled child, raised with disdain by his relatives, praised and persecuted by the whole of the magical world for the most fickle of actions, scarred physically and mentally, and…

And he wasn't Harry James Potter any more.

Altair Edward Tonks was a blank slate. Raised by a loving family, no expectations put upon him, and total freedom to do as he pleased, something Harry Potter was never truly given.

Harry James Potter wept in his crib, not the screaming cry that the Tonkses had associated with their youngest, but a silent sea of tears pooling down his cheeks. He was no longer Harry Potter and he, at that moment, put what was behind him. None would know who he used to be, he would not be their plaything. Harry James Potter was no more, not for another few years.

Altair Edward Tonks opened his eyes, his stubby limbs barely responding as he wiped his tears. He was no longer that troubled child, and he would be the son the Tonkses deserved, not what he had been.

He still refused to drink milk Adrome- _mums_ breast. His situation was already strange enough without his now nonexistent hormones kicking in.

* * *

A/N: Hey there guys! Umodin back with another update. So, this is just a mass of perspectives that I felt were necessary for my story. I always saw Harry as an angsty dude when it came to the last two books, and since he was reborn into Altair when he was 18 it was only natural that he have an angsty reaction. Remember, Harry was reborn as Altair 3 months after Voldemort died, so it should have been around August and he would have been 18 by then.

I felt that he just need some proper closure. He'd never had any time spent with Lily and James Potter that he could remember aside from the Resurrection Stone, and he needed to understand that they were truly gone. It took some time for him, nearly two months, but he finally understood that this wasn't a punishment; this was what he wanted in the first place. A blank slate and a loving family. Aye, it's a little sappy, but this is a more light hearted story, and I am of the belief that Harry is, not only a bundle of angst, but also a pile of sap. The start of the story may have been a little brutal, the Bellatrix scene and all, but this is still a lighter HP story.

So that final bit was mainly for Harry to accept the fact that he was no longer Harry James Potter, that he was Altair Edward Tonks.

Anyways.

If you liked this please Favorite/Follow and don't forget to Review!


	3. Claws of Envy

Andromeda Tonks watched her daughter board the Hogwarts Express with watered eyes. Ted held her tightly, wrapping his arm across his shoulder, while little Altair looked around the station with wide eyes that shifted colors at random with his hair following suit.

He was a quiet child, far from what he was in his first few months, and she loved him all the more for that. She was ever so glad that he calmed with the influence of the Potters, so much so that the now deceased Dorea Potter had taken the role of being his godmother.

Thought of her aunt made Andromeda's already watering eyes spill tears. Her Ted misinterpreted her tears and brushed them away, whispering sweet nothings into her ear that Dora would be fine. She smiled silently at him and turned her focus back towards her daughter.

It was best not to think of tragedies, not when today was meant to be a blessing.

Dora finished packing her trolley onto the train, the only things she had on her person was a small pack that held her school robes. Altair trotted up to her and the siblings shared an embrace. Andromeda couldn't help but smile; they had such a close bond. Always trying to outdo one another's forms, they would constantly cycle their hair, eyes and skin in each other's presence. Even now, while they hugged, Altair's green hair turned the same red as the Hogwarts Express while Dora's hair turned a bright gold. It certainly caught the attention of many Hogwarts students, parents and hopefuls if the wide eyed expressions at the platform were any indication.

"Andromeda!" a voice called. She turned to see Molly Weasley with her husband and their _seven_ children that all possessed the ginger hair Arthur was known for. There was a toddler girl in her arms, a small boy tugging on Arthurs robes, a pair of twins that shared an age with her Altair whispering to one another, another boy with glasses looking around on the tips of his toes, a boy the same age as her Dora pushing a trolley towards the Hogwarts Express and the eldest, likely a third or a fourth year, trying to spot his friends.

"Molly." she said with a slight smile. Though they didn't have much in common, they were acquainted through their husbands, both working in the Department of Muggle Regulations. While Arthur was Ted's boss due to blood status, Ted received a higher salary since he actually understood what they were working with. She was just glad that he stopped working that muggle desk job that kept him away from home for so long during the war. The Ministry was flexible, especially when it came to working with muggles, so Ted had more off hours to spend with his family than he knew what to do with.

Molly smiled, her brown eyes light with joy, "My Charlie's starting his first year, Bill's on his fourth." she said proudly. She adjusted her hold on her daughter, who was beginning to sniffle, and cooed at the girl.

Andromeda nodded, lackadaisically motioning over at Dora, "My Nympha-"

"Muuum! Don't call me that!"

"-dora's starting this year. Next to her is my youngest, Altair."

Molly cocked her head to the side, confusion apparent on her face. "Your youngest?"

Andromeda whipped her head around, only to see Dora scowling with crossed arms; likely from the use of her full given name. Really, the girl needed to appreciate the uniqueness of her name, it was not foolish in any way shape or form. But, that wasn't the issue. The issue was that _Altair wasn't there anymore!_

"Dora, where's Altair?"

She stubbornly turned away, her hair going from gold to pink, and muttered under her breath "I'unno."

Andromeda looked around the station frantically. She was well aware what value Metamorphmagi were to the wrong sorts, especially children with the talent. She looked to her Ted, her eyes wide in fear, but he offered her a delirious laugh.

"Ted, our son is missing! _Why. Are. You. Laughing?_ " she hissed out.

He pat her head and turned to Arthur, "Hello Arthur, is this all eight of your brood?"

Arthur blinked, before turning to count his children. Ginny was with Molly, Ron with him, the triplets were whispering together with-

"Molly…"

"Hm?"

"Did you obliviate me by chance? Because it appears we have an eighth child." She too turned to her children, zeroing in on what should have been her twins.

Andromeda calmed down as the Weasley clan began to question the now apparent triplets, and while she was still peeved at the scare she couldn't help but join her husband in mirth. Her Dora saw the scene and broke into a fit of giggles, catching the attention of the Weasleys.

While Molly fussed over her apparently new son, Arthur finally caught on and let out a barking laugh, "Your son's a morpher too, isn't he?"

Ted nodded with a grin, and all the Tonkses and Weasley's turned to the triplets with brows raised and amused smiles plastered on their faces.

The triplets looked at each other and back towards the group. They got in a line, making it so they were touching by the shoulders, put on the most dramatically hurt faces they could and spoke in turns.

"We don't-" came the triplet on the left.

"Know what-" came the middle triplet.

"You're talking about." came the triplet on the right.

"It's not our-" left.

"Fault that you-" middle.

"Don't remember your children." right.

"For shame." left.

"Such poor parenting-" middle.

"Skills you have." right.

The families tittered at the sight; Molly looked both exasperated and amused. Andromeda stepped up with a steely gaze, making the middle triplet turn away slightly. She smirked, glad that her son couldn't lie her face, and tugged on his ear, earning a yowl from the child and making his form drop.

Her son was a fair looking boy, he inherited his looks more from her than he did Ted, though his colorings were all Teds. Not like that meant much to a Metamorphmagus. Even at the tender age of six his face was starting to show signs of the high cheekbones predominant in the House of Black. Dora took more after Ted, with her slightly larger nose and dimpled cheeks, making her a more homely girl.

Altair grinned cheekily at her, the twins threw their arms around his shoulders and called out to Molly, "We made a friend mum!" "And he can be as ginger as we can!" Altair followed that statement by scrunching up his nose and matching their hair, causing the twins to hoot in joy.

Andromeda sighed wistfully, happy to see Altair playing with other children. She knew that, while he had moments of childishness, he was far more mature than most children his age. Perhaps it was due to his growing up during a war that threatened his father's life, but he had difficulty connecting with children his own age or younger. He would gravitate more towards Dora's friends than his own playmates. Sadly, them being four and five years older than Altair, he was shooed off more often than not.

"I'm all set mum!" Charlie said, bounding over to the group with a bright smile on his freckled face.

Molly turned to him and forced him into her side, her daughter was held firm on the other. "Now, you'll be good, yes?"

"Uhuh!"

"And if you need anything you know to ask Bill, yes?"

"Yep!"

"And you'll write to us at least once a week?"

"Muuuum!"

She placed a kiss on his head and shooed him away, "Have a wonderful year." He gave the rest of his family hugs goodbye and darted off inside the train with Bill.

Andromeda turned to her daughter, and grinned as Dora barreled into her. "Now, you'll talk to us once a week, won't you?" When her Aunt Dorea died, Andromeda was gifted her two-way mirror by James, for the use of Dora and Altair in the future. At the moment, Dora would be the one to hold it, and when she graduated from Hogwarts it would go to Altair in full.

"Uhuh!" Dora said, her voice sounded thick and nasally as she buried her face into Andromeda's blouse. She then let go, rammed into Ted and used his coat to wipe her tears and runny nose, much to the man's horror. She let go of her father and winked cheekily before taking off after Charlie Weasley to the train.

Andromeda sighed, resting her body against Ted. She looked at Molly, who was currently bawling her eyes out at the sight of her boys boarding the express, and spoke calmly.

"I think we'll be heading home, reality hasn't fully set in yet. What do you say to having a playdate with our sons in say a weeks' time?"

Molly sniffled, blowing loudly into a handkerchief, and nodded. "It sounds wonderful, Andromeda dear. I'm more than happy to host, merlin knows we have the extra room now that…" she began to bawl some more, burying her face into Arthur's shoulder.

Arthur smiled apologetically at Andromeda, "We'll keep with the details tomorrow, if that's alright. Ted and I _do_ work in the same office after all."

"Of course, do you know our floo?"

"Yes, 23… Sevner Drive? London I believe." Andromeda nodded while Ted picked Altair up and threw him over his shoulder, to their son's apparent annoyance if the slight scowl on his face was any indication.

Ted shook Arthurs hand firmly, ignoring Altair as the boy grew out his hair and tried to smother Ted in it. "See you at work."

They Tonkses moved over to one of the many floo connections inside platform nine and three quarters and left not a moment later.

* * *

Altair was busy packing his belongings, a plan slowly hatching in his mind. Last week, when Dora was boarding the Hogwarts Express, his mum had set up a playdate with Fred and George.

He couldn't say he was disappointed, he had difficulty connecting with children his age, but the twins were a… a mature immaturity. They were definitely immature, they always had been and likely always will be, but their humor was more adult and it made it easy for Altair to enjoy their company. The last time he had enjoyed being with somebody that didn't share his surname was when he was last with the Potters and Sirius, so he was looking forward to this visit.

Thoughts of them caused him to pause, a pained expression on his face.

Everything happened the way it did the first time around. James and Lily Potter died protecting Harry Potter, who was labelled the Boy-Who-Lived and shipped off to the Dursleys. Sirius was thrown in Azkaban, still with no trial and nobody cared. Remus Lupin was wasting his sorrows away somewhere on the mainland.

He wished he was able to form his words well enough to warn them, to do _something_ , but his visits with the Potters were few and far between after Dorea Potter passed away. He did spend a few days with them while they were in hiding, their Fidelius made them safer than most sitters, but most of those times he was with Lily while she was fussing over baby Harry. He was only two at the time, three once after, and his toddler body couldn't speak as well as he'd like. He tried to warn them, tried as much as he could, but his attempt at words just came out as poorly formed babbles. Most of the time, when he tried to get their attention by screaming, as that was the only way to truly gain it as a baby, he was put under a sleeping draught.

He understood the need for it. He may not have purposefully screamed his throat hoarse anymore but he still suffered from the occasional nightmare induced screaming session and a drop of sleeping draught worked wonders.

Which was why he was currently packing a small bottle of sleeping draught into his bag, he didn't want to risk waking up the Weasley clan in the middle of the night. He'd packed the essentials, a spare change of clothes, his sleeping draught, and, naturally, a set of exploding snap cards. The cards were originally owned by Dora, who had gotten them from James Potter, and they had the ability to explode on command rather than a timer which made for great pranks. He may not have totally subscribed to the ideal of being a prankster, but he knew how to have fun the magical way for certain.

Altair smiled lightly. Fun; both an old as well as a foreign concept to him. He never really had the chance to just have fun, the Dursleys refused to give him that right and his years at Hogwarts showed him that he never really had time to just have fun. After his first year, where he saw Voldemort's shade, he understood through the help of Dumbledore that he was a target, and it was best not to be an easy target at the very least. Training in the various magical arts took over the majority of his time outside of school and the only real fun he had the opportunity for was Quidditch, and while he did adore the sport he enjoyed flying more than he did playing. That and he didn't really have the opportunity to say no when it came to Quidditch.

This was one of the major reasons he was looking forward to his playdate, a term he wasn't sure about in truth. The Weasley twins were the ones to show him that even though he was busy, he could still enjoy his free time during his Hogwarts years. They showed him pranks, pulled more on him than anything, and kept him laughing throughout his harrowed years at Hogwarts. Altair knew that without their influence, it would have been far more difficult for him to accept the loving embrace of the Tonks family.

Being a Tonks was more of a blessing than anything. Andromeda, who he now called mum, had a very calming atmosphere to her and was always willing to just talk to her children about whatever held their interest. Dora spoke more than he did, her being the eldest and all, and Altair was more than content to watch them interact. It helped him understand who Andromeda was as a person, and with that understanding came affection; something that she reciprocated in full.

Ted Tonks however was far, _far_ from what he expected. Altair, prior to being Altair, knew Andromeda well and would listen to her tell stories of her deceased husband fondly. How he was a sweet man, how he could do no wrong and all that rot.

Ted Tonks was essentially a Remus Lupin that wasn't a werewolf.

He was constantly playing with his children; always joking with them and trying to make the whole of his family keep a smile on their face. He would roughhouse with Dora, her being a tomboy made her more reciprocal to his playing. When it came to Altair himself, Ted Tonks was gentler in the beginning due to his age, but the man was quick to throw Altair around. But, due to his being the more physical parent of the two, he took over the duties of teaching Altair skills he'd never properly learned before. How to swim, how to ride a bicycle… things that he should have known but was never taught.

Altair may have found more affection for his mum in the long run, but his dad was a man that he'd come to love in a similar manner.

He was broken out of his musings when he heard the bathroom door close. He was alone in the house with his mum, Dora was at Hogwarts and dad was at work. While she was preoccupied he quickly exited his room and got into the kitchen. There, on the small island of the cookery, was the purse of Andromeda Tonks. He stuffed his hands inside of it and withdrew a single galleon. He would accept punishment for his theft later, but his needs outweighed his guilt. In this case, it was better to ask forgiveness after the deed was done than to ask permission beforehand.

He stuffed the coin in the back pocket of his jeans and ran back up to his room. He finished packing the last of his belongings into his rucksack and brought the sack into living room, turning on the telly to see if anything of interest was on while he waited for his mum.

Andromeda Tonks arrived five minutes later.

"You ready to go?" she asked.

"Yes mum!" Altair replied, turning off the news station and quickly making his way towards her.

She nodded and motioned for him to follow her to the floo. They both took a pinch of floo power and called out, "The Burrow!" The sensation of traveling through fire without heat always was a curiosity to Altair, but what was not something he enjoyed was his habit of falling face first through the floo. His hair turned bright red in embarrassment as he heardthe twins cackle.

His mum quickly picked him up, pointing her wand at his clothing and vanishing the ash and dust on his clothing.

He looked up, only to see Mrs. Weasley, berating the twins for their "crass behavior towards their guest!" There was a blonde woman sitting at the table sipping on a cup of tea looking at the scene amusedly as well. She was looking over Ginny and what looked like her own daughter as they played with colors on a few pieces of paper.

He turned to his mum, offering a bright grin that was returned with a small smirk. Andromeda kissed the top of his head lightly.

"You be good, alright?"

"Yes mum!"

Andromeda turned to the blonde woman, "Pandora, good to see you."

The woman smiled slightly with a tilted head, "And you as well."

Androme then gave Molly her attention, "Listen, I'm going to have to head back home a little earlier. Are things fine now? I didn't know you had another guest."

Molly waved her off. "You're fine dear. Pandora came by so that Luna and Ginny could play together, she lives only a few blocks off you see."

Andromeda nodded with a smile, ruffled her sons hair and shot through the floo once more.

Altair was grabbed by the arms by the twins and dragged up the stairs, only to run into Percy.

A Percy Weasley with a peculiar rat on his shoulder.

* * *

A/N: Sorry about the wait, the truth is that I lose focus of my stories ridiculously easily.

So! Timeskips. I never really intended for this to be a focused story, so I won't be going into detail about some of the more inane things Altair will go through. But, I did give some hints about what he was like as Harry.

As you might be able to tell, when Altair was Harry, he was not the same Harry from Rowlings noggin. He understood early on that a megalomaniac was after his head, and prepared accordingly from an early age. Harry Potter from the books did not do that.

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	4. The Quibblers Wrath

Sirius Black, in his human form, slept fitfully in his small cell of Azkaban.

The Dementors had just visited him, and were it not for his Animagus form there was no doubt that he would have succumbed to the same insanity that his fellow inmates had amassed.

That, and the knowledge that he was _innocent!_

The Dementors, for the three years he'd been imprisoned, had been thorough in their mental torture. They would constantly bring him back to his early years, where his own mother would punish him with magic. They would return him to his first summer from Hogwarts, where his father used the Cruciatus on him for being sorted into Gryffindor and not returning home for the Yule. They brought him to his escape from Grimmauld Place, when his family tried to force the Dark Mark onto him and upon his refusal they attempted to murder him…

It took Azkaban to realize how badly his family had screwed him over to come full circle.

The Dementors also played on his greatest fears. They showed him images of Prongs, Moony and _Wormtail_. Prongs reviling him, calling him a traitor. Moony giving into his inner beast and killing Prongs and Lily and then being put down. Wormtail giving him big smiles, happy that Sirius _also_ had a Dark Mark branded on his arm.

Images of little Harry, his Prongslet, being abused in whatever hell he'd been taken to.

But the Dementors hadn't won, and Sirius would be damned if he let them _ever_ win! He was innocent!

"I'M INNOCENT!" Sirius proclaimed as he awoke. He looked around, wide eyed, and let loose a pained groan.

No matter how true that statement was, it didn't matter to those that refused to listen. The Azkaban guards, the ones that weren't soul sucking monsters at the very least, didn't pay any attention to the screams of prison inhabitants. And why should they? Half of the people in here were insane and the other half were approaching insanity.

Sirius was just slowing down the process by turning into Padfoot.

"Are you now?" a voice said. Sirius felt his eyes open wide at the _human_ voice at his door. The voice of a woman at that. He shakily stood up and made his way towards the door, the shackles on his ankles making it so he couldn't fully reach. The bars on the door showed Amelia Bones and a pair of Aurors at her side.

"Amy?" Sirius asked, his voice hoarse. He hadn't seen her since his Hogwarts days; she was Headgirl back when he was just a Third Year Gryff.

"I'm called Madam Bones now, Black. But, back to the matter at hand." She held up a small vial that was thin enough to fit through the bars, with only a few drops or so of a clear liquid inside.

 _A chance!_

Sirius barreled towards the door, the shackle on his ankles tearing flesh as he desperately tried to reach the door. He opened his mouth, letting his admittedly long tongue lol out as far as it could; touching the iron of the door.

Amy nodded and uncorked the vial, placing it over Sirius' outstretched tongue.

Three drops hit his tongue and questions began.

* * *

Edward Tonks, preferably called Ted by his friends and family, looked at the piece of parchment in front of him with no small amount of incredulity. Normally he didn't bother reading the post found in the Wizarding World, but this was what he would call an exception. The Daily Prophet was as biased and unruly as ever and he had no interest in reading the general slander their "top reporter" Rita Skeeter had for whichever Muggleborn or Halfblood that caught her attention. The Quibbler, similarly, was full of jargon. But, he at the very least understood that the Quibbler was a simple tabloid, and was generally full of harmless fun for the Lovegoods and their oftentimes strange reader base.

That was until he came upon the headline for the afternoon Quibbler on his way to lunch.

 **SIRIUS BLACK: INNOCENT!**

 _Written by Pandora Lovegood._

 _Sirius Black, heir to the Ancient and Noble House of Black and right hand of You-Know-Who has been in the back of the minds for all of us that were in the thick of the recent war. We all believed him to be guilty of his long list of crimes, myself included, but as of this morning I have had such opinions wrenched from my mind none to gently._

 _For those that require a reminder of the crimes of Sirius Black, I shall note them. He was the man that betrayed the location of the Potters and Longbottoms to You-Know-Who and, after the Potters were all killed aside from our very own Boy-Who-Lived, he chased down Peter Pettigrew and murdered him along with twelve muggles with an overpowered blasting curse, leaving only the finger of Pettigrew. He was thrown in Azkaban soon after and we haven't heard from him in over three years._

 _And yet, I myself saw personal proof that he was innocent of these alegations._

 _Earlier this morning I and my daughter, Luna, went to the house of the Weasley family so that she and Ginevra Weasley could have a day together. The twin boys of the Weasley family, six year old Fred and George, also invited a friend over that day, Altair Tonks – known Metamorphmagus along with his elder sister Nymphadora. Upon entering the house Altair was met with the third eldest of the Weasley clan, Percival._

 _Percival, who prefers to be called Percy, has had a pet rat for the past three years; Scabbers._

 _Fred, George and Altair, in an attempt to annoy Percy most likely, stole the rat not a moment after and claimed they would perform an experiment. Altair has a sleeping issue that causes him to have recurring nightmares that can lead to nightscreams, which makes him take a drop of sleeping draught before sleeping. The trio wanted to see what would happen if a rat took it._

 _Should an animal take a sleeping draught, nothing would happen aside from being forced to sleep for the whole of their daily sleep cycle. The same as when a witch or wizard uses it._

 _When the boys gave Scabbers the draught, the rat fell asleep. And then stopped being a rat, turning into the form of a small, rotund man that Molly Weasley recognized as Peter Pettigrew._

 _A relatively unknown fact of the sleeping draught is that it is made using Mandrake leaf, one of the components in completing the Animagus transformation. Should an Animagus in their animal form consume any format of Mandrake leaf, they will be forcefully reverted to their human form; similar to the Homorphus charm._

 _Molly Weasley immediately recognized Pettigrew, having worked with him in the past, and after she and I detained the man as heavily as we could I brought him to the newly appointed DMLE Head Amelia Bones while Molly stayed behind to look over the children. Madam Bones was quick to take the man into a Ministry cell and give him Veritaserum due to his having been proclaimed dead. Pettigrew then told her that he was the one that sold out the Potters, giving all the blame to Sirius Black._

 _Madam Bones immediately grabbed a pair of off-duty Aurors and headed off to Azkaban with the intent to question Sirius Black. She returned with Sirius Black in tow, looking every bit like an Azkaban inhabitant, and informed me that Black had never even received a trial. He was immediately taken in to Saint Mungo's with an Auror escort in order to receive long term Dementor exposure treatments. I was told to leave after this by Madam Bones, who I believe was on her way towards Minister Bagnold's office; likely to talk about the events of what happened minutes ago._

 _With news like this, I have to ask: how was it possible for Sirius Black to not receive a trial? Mass murders such as the Lestranges and Barty Crouch Jr. were all given trials, but the supposed right hand of the Dark Lord himself wasn't? Is it possible that Sirius Black wasn't the only innocent sent to the prison of Azkaban?_

 _I am scared to learn the answer._

Ted quick bought a copy of the Quibbler, rushed back to his office and made way Arthur Weasley's door. Without bothering to wait he opened it, finding Arthur playing with a small toy train set.

His boss was naturally annoyed at being interrupted, but Ted just slapped the Quibbler copy on his desk.

"I need to leave for the rest of the day, you might want to take off early too."

"Now wait just a-!" Arthur cut himself off as he looked at the headline of the Quibbler. He quickly snatched the paper up and read silently. After a minute he opened up the floo to his office, grabbed a bowl of floo powder, snatched up a handful of the stuff and shoved the bowl into Teds arms.

"The Burrow!" Arthur shouted as he tossed his handful into the fireplace. The green fire roared and Arthur stepped in.

Without bothering to wait, Ted just copied Arthur.

"The Burrow!"

* * *

Minister Bagnold abdicated her seat of office immediately.

A vote was put into session amongst the Wizengamot. The top contenders for the position of Minister were Cornelius Fudge, backed by Lucius Malfoy, and Amelia Bones, backed by the majority of England for her quick and decisive actions upon learning of such a massive obstruction of justice.

There wasn't much of a competition.

Minister Bones, age twenty eight, making her the youngest Minister of Magic in over three centuries, immediately went about giving every Azkaban inhabitant a Veritaserum based questioning in order to determine if they were innocent or guilty. Even inmates that had been already proven guilty through Veritaserum.

Five innocents were freed from Azkaban; three Muggleborns, one Werewolf and one Pureblood that supported muggle rights.

She also made the attempt to have the men and women that claimed to be under the Imperius curse to stand a proper trial.

She was most annoyed to learn that she couldn't touch them, since they were abdicated of any crime by the late Minister Bagnold.

In any case, Minister Bones was proud to announce, weeks after her trip to Azkaban, that Sirius Black was released from Saint Mungo's and to be given an Order of Merlin First Class.

* * *

Harry Potter sniffled as he was left at home alone. His Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and Cousin Dudley were taking the day off and went to London while he was told to stay. They said he wasn't allowed to watch the telly. Told him he couldn't cook himself any food and would have to eat a frozen tray from the freezer.

He was a big boy; he had to watch the house for his family. He knew they didn't like him much, but maybe if he did a good job they'd be nicer to him!

The doorbell rang, cutting him off from his thoughts. He didn't know if he was supposed to answer the door, his Aunt and Uncle didn't say he _couldn't_ do that but they'd never let him do it before.

But he was a big boy now, right?

He puffed out his chest, walked towards the kitchen and grabbed a stepstool, making his way towards to door. Placing the stepstool down, Harry got onto it and unlatched the lock of the door. He hopped off of the stool, moved it to the side, and opened the door; curious to see who was there.

It was a man with long black hair, a trimmed goatee and a pale, gaunt face. He had grey eyes and a big smile on his teeth. He was also dressed weirdly, Harry noted; like he was wearing a black bathrobe.

"Yes?" Harry said, his high pitched voice squeaking a tad.

The man smiled brightly down and Harry, knelt down so that they were eye level and spoke softly.

"Hello Harry, my name is Sirius."

* * *

A/N: Yes, I am leaving it there. This isn't a super serious story, but I felt that I needed to let other people have some time to shine. Altair is the main, but he's not the only one around.

So, perspectives. One for Sirius, one for Ted, a general one for Amelia and one for Harry. They were short, but I felt that they were enough to make my point.

Sirius is free. A lot of people like to keep Sirius in Azkaban, even when they do a reincarnation/time travel story for some reason. I admit that it keeps continuity going, making it so Wormtail can still revive Voldemort, but really – there are other ways to get it done.

Plus I just don't like Wormtail.

So yeah.

The next chapter will be another time skip, similar to what you saw in chapter three, that will take us to Altair and the Twins' Hogwarts Express ride.

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